 TheHeiberg Islands and adjacent coastal islands | |
 Location of the Heiberg Islands in the Kara Sea | |
| Geography | |
| Location | Kara Sea |
| Coordinates | 77°40′N101°27′E / 77.667°N 101.450°E /77.667; 101.450 |
| Archipelago | Heiberg Islands |
| Administration | |
| Demographics | |
| Population | 0 |
TheHeiberg Islands, speltGeyberg,Gejberg orGeiberg (Russian:острова Гейберга;ostrova Geyberga or alsoострова Акселя Гейберга) is a group of four small islands covered with tundra vegetation and with scattered stones on their shores. They lie in theKara Sea, between the bleak coast ofSiberia'sTaymyr Peninsula andSevernaya Zemlya. These islands are between 35 and 45 km (22 and 28 mi) from the continental shore.
The Heiberg Islands are covering the entrance to theVilkitsky Strait from the west.The latitude of this group is 77° 40' N and the longitude 101° 27' E.77°40′N101°27′E / 77.667°N 101.450°E /77.667; 101.450The largest island of the group is only about
5 km (3.1 mi) in length.
The sea surrounding the Heiberg Islands is covered with fast ice in the winter, which is long and bitter, and the climate is severe. The surrounding sea is obstructed by pack ice even in the summer, so that these islands are connected with the mainland for most of the year.
The Heiberg Islands were named byFridtjof Nansen.[1] He named them afterAxel Heiberg, financial director of theNorwegianRingnes brewery, who was the main financier of theFram expedition to the Arctic.[citation needed]
This island group belongs to theKrasnoyarsk Krai administrative division of theRussian Federation. It is also part of theGreat Arctic State Nature Reserve, the largest nature reserve of Russia.
ASoviet polar meteorological station was established on Heiberg in 1940 to aid navigation of theNorthern Sea Route.After the breakup of theUSSR, commercial navigation in the Arctic went into decline.[2]
More or less regular shipping is to be found only fromMurmansk toDudinka in the west and betweenVladivostok andPevek in the east. The areas around theTaymyr Peninsula, including the Vilkitsky Strait, see next to no shipping at all.
The polar station on the Heiberg Islands is now abandoned, with millions of rubles of equipment still there.
